I sighed sadly as my mother fawned over her Yolanda, who was extremely excited about a play she was writing. She called it: Twice The Fool. I watched Yolanda act out a scene where the main character, a woman named Faith, was speaking to her love interest, holding his hand, begging him not to leave to fight in the war. I scoffed to myself as my twin fell to her knees dramatically, fake-sobbing into her small palms, calling out to her lover. Luckily, my mother was too interested in Yolanda to notice. My father however, who was sitting across from me at the dining table, sipping his coffee, looked at me disapprovingly. I merely rolled my eyes, and arose from my seat.

"I think I'll go see what Travis is up to." I announced, knowing that they didn't care what I was doing in the least bit. I walked clumsily over the threshold and out into the peaceful breeze. I ran across the grass, my bare feet becoming wet with dew, and towards the small cottage directly across from mine. I knocked gently on the door, quietly, as not to wake Travis's parents, who I knew were bound to be sleeping until noon on a bright Sunday such as this. The door opened to reveal a tall boy, no older than sixteen, with shaggy black hair, and piercing dark blue eyes. He towered over me, and smiled down onto my frail figure, a straight white smile. He stood aside and granted me access into his home.

"Good morning, Anna," he greeted pleasantly, wrapping one strong, warm around around me in a one-armed hug. I smiled up at him, and then looked away, sadly. "What's wrong?" he asked me noticing my strange behavior.
Normally I was very happy around him.

"Her." I muttered darkly. He knew how I envied and loathed my twin for many reasons. Her beauty, intelligence, talent, and how she seemed to be everything our parents wanted while I was a waste of space, taking up their air. He sighed, and placed a large hand on my shoulder. A spark erupted from that very spot the instant he made contact, and the warmth spread throughout my body, but vanished completely once he released me, much to my dismay.

"Anna, I understand you don't like being over shadowed by her but-"

"Over shadowed? That's barely an understatement!" I cried throwing my hands in the air. "She is so perfect in every way! You should hear them talk about her: 'Dear, isn't Yolanda so beautiful?', 'Honey, look at how talented, I think she'll really get somewhere in the future!', 'Yoanna, you should be more like Landa, and not so quiet, and preserved!' Humph! That's only because they never take the time to listen! Honestly, everything about her is perfect, while in their eyes I'm just one bug flaw!" Tears threatened to spill from my eyes, but I did not oblige. I promised myself never to cry over Yolanda. I wasn't about to break it.

"Anna," started Travis, "You don't need to be so hard on her. She hasn't done anything wrong. She is just being herself. She can't control how your parents feel."

"OH, of coarse you will back her up! You love her just like everyone else!" I cried hysterically, "I bet you are rather annoyed by me too, now! Am I a bit too dull for you? Are you getting bored by my presence?" Travis indeed had strong feeling for my twin, and it deeply sickened me to hear they way they all talked about her.

"Anna, calm down. You are getting too carried away." Travis soothed, holding me close to him, as he rubbed my back. Finally the tears fell. I couldn't stop them. They could no longer be held back. Fifteen years of proving to myself that I would never cry had gone to waste. I sobbed into his chest.

"And what's worse," I managed to choke out, "is you never bothered to ask about how I felt. You were always too worried about Yolanda's feelings to even consider mine! I love-" before I could finish my confession, I was interrupted.

"Is everything okay? I could hear you two upstairs." Mrs. Millard wondered, cascading down the steps that led to the loft where she and her husband slept.

"No, every thing's fine." I muttered, wiping the tears away. "I'll see you later, Travis." And with that, I ran back out the door, leaving behind a confused Mrs. Millard, and a even more confounded Travis. But the thing is, I kept running. I never stopped. I ran past my home, fresh tears flying behind me. I passed the well a short ways down, and then even further away, a small pond of frogs. I whipped past the horse stables and the barn. I
reached the fields where we grew our crops, and behind there, the deep forests that none of us dared go through, unknowing of what lies in store inside of the trees. I ignored the protesting voice in my head, and ran through. My bare arms were whipped and scratched by branched and sharp twigs, as was my face, and my feet ached from stepping on so many rocks and who knows what. But I continued running. I felt as though a part of me had been severed away. I reached a clearing about three miles from home, and stopped in the small meadow. I fell to my knees, and sobbed into my hands, much like the position that Faith would sit in when begging her lover to not leave her behind. But with me, he was never there. He never loved me like I loved him, and he wasn't leaving me. Or so I thought.....